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DocBook list guidelines


DocBook Mailing List Guidelines

$Id: guidelines.xml,v 1.1 2000/11/08 01:38:57 ndw Exp $

07 November 2000

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Table of Contents

Posting
Before You Post
Replies Go to the List
Use Short Quotes of Previous Messages in Replies
Do Not Post Attachments
Cross-Posting
Digests
Unsubscribing from Docbook List
Unsubscribing from Docbook-Apps List
Unsubscribing from the Docbook Digest
Unsubscribing from the Docbook-Apps Digest
If You Stop Getting Messages
Archive
Reporting Bugs in Software
Further Information on DocBook
Contact

This information[1] is posted to the DocBook and DocBook Applications mailing
lists (and their digests) at regular intervals under the subject line "DocBook
list guidelines".

Posting

Only subscribers can post to mailing list, and only from the address they used
when they subscribed.

There are two DocBook-related lists: docbook and docbook-apps. The docbook list
is for general questions about DocBook. The docbook-apps list is for questions
about applications (stylesheets, transformation tools, publishing tools,
processing requirements, etc.) that use or work with DocBook.

Specifically:
   
   
  * Questions about DocBook markup (How do I markup a Widget? What's a
    FuncSynopsisInfo for?) should be sent to the docbook list.
   
  * Questions about XSL or DSSSL stylesheets, publishing DocBook documents on
    your platform of choice, support for PostScript, PDF, or other types of
    output, questions about Windows or Unix applications that can consume or
    produce DocBook should be sent to the docbook-apps list.
   

Do not begin your subject line with "help" or "subscribe" since the list
software will bounce the message because it looks like is an administrative
request.

Do not use un-informative subject lines like "Urgent", "Easy question", or
"Problem". Instead, use a meaningful subject line that will make sense to the
people whose help you are trying to get.

Both subscribers to docbook@lists.oasis-open.org and 
docbook-digest@lists.oasis-open.org should post their messages to 
docbook@lists.oasis-open.org. The messages will be received by both subscribers
to the list and subscribers to the digest.

Both subscribers to docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org and 
docbook-apps-digest@lists.oasis-open.org should post their messages to 
docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org. The messages will be received by both
subscribers to the list and subscribers to the digest.

Do not start a new thread by replying to an unrelated message and just changing
the subject line since the header of your message will contain references to
the previous message and your new message will appear in the archive as one of
the replies to the original message. It is better to start a new message for a
new thread.

Before You Post

 1. Check that you are posting to the right list.
   
 2. Check that your question isn't already answered in the mailing list
    archives at http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook/ or http://
    lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/.
   
 3. If you are replying to a post, trim the quoted message to just the parts to
    which you are replying.
   

Replies Go to the List

The reply address of mailing list messages (and of digests) is to the list so
REPLIES GO TO THE LIST BY DEFAULT. If you want to reply to just the author of a
post, you should change the "To:" field in your reply.

Use Short Quotes of Previous Messages in Replies

Please do not quote entire messages just to add a few lines at the beginning or
end. Instead, quote the parts to which you are directly replying or quote
enough to establish the context.

Everybody on the list has already received the message that you are quoting,
and anyone searching the archive will find your message and the previous
message listed under the same thread.

Subscribers to the mailing list will just ignore most of the quoted messages
and move to the next post, but subscribers to the mailing list Digest will
mostly have to page past the quoted messages to reach the next material in
which they are interested in reading.

Do Not Post Attachments

Since mailing lists have in the past been unwittingly used for spreading
viruses in e-mail attachments, all e-mail attachments are banned from the
DocBook lists.

Most relevant documents (SGML and XML files, stylesheets, documents, etc.) are
text files, so this does not affect the majority of posts to the list since you
can include the files' text in the body of your message. If you need to refer
to a binary file such as a PDF document, you should put the file on a Web site
or FTP site and include the file's URL in your post.

Cross-Posting

Cross-posting between the DocBook mailing lists or to other lists is often
counter-productive unless everybody who replies to the thread is on both lists.
Cross-posts from non-subscribers continuing the thread will bounce, and mailing
list subscribers who are not also on the other list will only see half of the
thread, as will those on the other list who are not also on the mailing list.
Subscribers to both lists will see two copies of the message, annoying them as
well.

Digests

Digests--copies of several days mailing list messages (or a ??? character
chunk, whichever comes first) sent as one email message--are available. To
subscribe to the docbook-digest, send a subscription request to 
docbook-digest-request@lists.oasis-open.org. To subscribe to the
docbook-apps-digest, send a subscription request to 
docbook-apps-digest-request@lists.oasis-open.org. Remember to unsubscribe to
the undigested list, unless you want both.

Unsubscribing from Docbook List

To unsubscribe from the DocBook mailing list, send mail to 
docbook-request@lists.oasis-open.org with "unsubscribe" as the body of your
message.

Unsubscribing from Docbook-Apps List

To unsubscribe from the DocBook Applications mailing list, send mail to 
docbook-apps-request@lists.oasis-open.org with "unsubscribe" as the body of
your message.

Unsubscribing from the Docbook Digest

To unsubscribe from the DocBook digest list, send mail to 
docbook-digest-request@lists.oasis-open.org with "unsubscribe" as the body of
your message.

Unsubscribing from the Docbook-Apps Digest

To unsubscribe from the DocBook Applications digest list, send mail to 
docbook-apps-digest-request@lists.oasis-open.org with "unsubscribe" as the body
of your message.

If You Stop Getting Messages

If you stop receiving mailing list message, you may have been removed because
mail to you was bouncing. You are not being picked on, and you can just rejoin
the list.

Archive

The DocBook mailing list messages are archived at http://lists.oasis-open.org/
archives/docbook/.

The DocBook Applications mailing list messages are archived at http://
lists.oasis-open.org/archives/docbook-apps/.

Reporting Bugs in Software

Confirmed bugs in software should be reported to its author rather than to the
mailing list, but it is appropriate to discuss suspected bugs and workarounds
on the docbook-apps list only.

Further Information on DocBook

+----------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook |The DocBook Home Page        |
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|http://www.docbook.org/           |DocBook: The Definitive Guide|
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl   |DocBook DSSSL Stylesheets    |
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------+
|http://nwalsh.com/docbook/xsl     |DocBook XSL Stylesheets      |
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------+

Contact

If you have any questions or problems, please contact Norman Walsh, 
ndw@nwalsh.com

------------

[1] Credit where credit is due: I stole the vast majority of this document from
Tony Graham's excellent posting on the DSSSL and XSL lists. Thanks, Tony!

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